Immediate Access for the Terminally Ill Act

Key Points

• This bill would let people with incurable terminal illnesses start receiving Social Security disability payments immediately. Currently, most people have to wait five months after becoming disabled before their checks start arriving.
• To get the money faster, people would have to agree to a permanent 7% pay cut in their monthly benefits. This choice would only be available for specific conditions where doctors expect the person to live five years or less and there is no known cure.
• The bill would stop people from receiving both disability benefits and unemployment checks at the same month. If someone qualifies for both, their disability payment would be reduced to zero for that month.
• The Social Security Administration would no longer be able to add new diseases to the fast-track 'Compassionate Allowance' list on its own. Instead, Congress would have to pass a law to approve any new medical conditions added to that list.
• If the government accidentally pays someone too much money, they often take the full amount back from future checks. This bill allows the government to take a smaller amount—at least 10%—if taking the whole check would cause too much financial hardship.